There was no "United States" until AFTER the war of northern agression. We had a republic that followed the MANDATES of the Contitution. The war was about "state's rights". Only the Yankees considered slavery but even then as an adjunct and as a politically motivating tool (just as today). If we but consider the obvious in our own time, we don't have states rights today! We only have what Lincoln and his band of thugs gave us. Now we have a new band of thugs and even fewer rights. The states need to obey the Constitution but the Federals will fight them tooth and nail just as did Lincoln.